Publications
- Samantha Markle has filed a defamation case against Meghan Markle.
- The Duchess of Sussex's half-sister is suing her for "defamation and injurious falsehoods" following her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
- Earlier this week, a judge dismissed the couple's motion to stop depositions in the civil case.
Samantha Markle, the half-sister of Meghan Markle, is suing The Duchess of Sussex for "defamation and injurious falsehoods" following her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Samantha and Meghan share the same father, Thomas Markle, who is also estranged from the Duchess of Sussex following his involvement with the press, feeding them in the runup to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 2018 wedding.
Samantha, in a filing submitted in March, says Meghan made "demonstrably false and malicious statements" to a worldwide audience when she said she was "an only child", BBC reports.
"Meghan - who was featured with Prince Harry on the cover of Time Magazine's annual feature on 'The World's Most Influential People' - published and disseminated false and malicious lies designed to destroy Plaintiff's reputation and which have subjected Plaintiff to humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale," Samantha Markle alleges in the court filing.
Further, Meghan's half-sister claims she used "the powerful resources of the royal family's public relations operation" to disseminate and spread "lies worldwide" about her and their father Thomas Markle.
"Defendant orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy her sister's and her father's reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false 'rags-to-royalty' narrative," the filing states.
"[It was] a premeditated campaign to destroy their reputation and credibility so they could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairy tale life story concocted by the defendant."
Harry and Meghan will be questioned in the defamation suit, which comes following the release of their Netflix documentary in which they speak of Samantha and Thomas Markle giving interviews to the press, and Prince Harry's memoir, Spare.
The couple also filed a motion to stop depositions in the civil case but said the action was dismissed Tuesday by a Florida judge.
